麻豆社

The aim of the project was to give all stations a workable template for producing live debates, so they could continue to increase their audiences once 麻豆社 Media Action鈥檚 support came to an end.

Editorial and technical support

Editorial and technical support began at ZNBC, the national broadcaster, and three community radio stations in January 2013. Trainees were assigned mentors as well as taking part in practical workshops, all of which they had to juggle with their full time jobs.

Technical support involved, among other things, lighting training and installing new broadcasting equipment.

Catherine Mushota, one of the directors of the TV debate programme The Forum took part in the training.

She said, 鈥淚鈥檓 a relatively new director in the unit so this has served as training in its own right - just to understand the mixing of the shots, why we use certain shots and the language required by a director, it鈥檚 really helpful.鈥�

Standing room only

At Radio Yatsani the first community radio debate on land rights took place in the township of Bauleni in Lusaka, attracting more than 400 people.

Land rights are a complicated and contentious issue in Zambia. While this debate could only last an hour, the audience asked Radio Yatsani to organise another debate on land rights, as there had not been enough time to air all the issues.

The television team at ZNBC recorded an as-live debate, which was transmitted a few days later to mark the UN World Day on Social Justice. Itr included a heated discussion between the Minister for Agriculture, Mr Robert Sichinga and Dr Cholwe Bayeni, an opposition politician from the United Party for National Development (UPND).

The audience got so involved they weren鈥檛 ready to leave the studio after the recording had finished, and so the panellists agreed to stay behind to answer more of their questions.

Project information